1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a steam iron with spray mist used for ironing the wrinkles out of garments.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following are typical examples of an iron with spray mist by which liquid is sprayed onto fibers to be ironed. The first example is disclosed in Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication No. Sho 40-17276. In this iron with spray mist, water stored in a water tank is sucked up and sprayed by the action of steam generated in a vaporizing chamber. The second example is disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 41-16158. In this iron with spray mist, steam generated in a vaporizing chamber is accumulated in a water tank, so that the pressure of steam is increased. By the action of this increased steam pressure, water is sucked up from the water tank and sprayed. The third example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,691,660. In this iron with spray mist, water is sucked up from a water tank by a manual pump unit and sprayed. The fourth example is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 5-200195. In this iron with spray mist, water stored in a water tank is atomized by the action of sound wave energy of an ultrasonic transducer, and the thus atomized water is sprayed.
However, the following problems may be encountered in the above conventional irons with spray mist. When the wrinkles are ironed out of garments, it is common to conduct ironing while steam is being jetted out from the iron for giving an appropriate quantity of water to the garments so that the wrinkles can be easily smoothed out. When it is difficult to smooth out the wrinkles or when ironing is conducted on garments made of cotton or hemp fibers, the wrinkles of which are difficult to be smoothed out, it is common to conduct ironing while water is being sprayed on the garments so as to give a large quantity of water to the garments.
According to the conventional structure described in the first example, although spraying operation is relatively easy, it is difficult to spray water stably under the condition that water is atomized to fine particles. According to the conventional structure described in the second example, it is necessary to increase a pressure in the water tank to a sufficiently high value. Therefore, the structure becomes complicated, and many restrictions are imposed on the manufacture of the irons. According to the conventional structure described in the third example, the structure is simple. Therefore, the irons of the third example have come to wide use. However, the manually operated pump unit tends to fluctuate, and the spray condition of water tends to change, and further it is difficult to use the manually operated pump unit. Concerning the conventional structure described in the fourth example, it is difficult to reduce the size of the iron so that the iron can be handily used.
When the conventional spray units are used, it is difficult to spread water into fibers sufficiently. Therefore, the wrinkles can not be smoothed when ironing is conducted on the fibers. The reason is described as follows. Particles of water in the spray can not be reduced to a size appropriate to penetrate into the fibers. That is, it is impossible to obtain water particles, the size of which is sufficiently fine so that they can penetrate into the fibers.
As a result, in order to give a sufficiently large quantity of water to the fibers, an excessively large quantity of water particles are sprayed on the fibers. Therefore, the fibers get wet beyond what is necessary. Accordingly, in order to remove redundant water, it takes a long time to conduct ironing, and the working efficiency is deteriorated.
Further, the sprayed water spreads widely on the fibers to be ironed, that is, the sprayed water spreads even to a portion where it is unnecessary to conduct ironing. In order to dry the water that has spread in the portion where it is unnecessary to conduct ironing, ironing must be conducted in a large area, and the working efficiency is deteriorated.
The present inventors made experiments and confirmed that a preferable particle size of water is in a range from 20 to 60 .mu.m so as to penetrate water into natural fibers such as cotton and hemp fibers. When water particles of such a small size are sprayed, it is difficult for an operator to watch the spraying condition. Accordingly, there is a possibility that spraying is conducted beyond what is necessary. As a result, it takes long time to dry the redundant water in the same manner as that described above, and a large quantity of water stored in the water tank is consumed.
Furthermore, it is difficult to clearly see a range in which spraying has already been conducted. Consequently, there is a possibility that an operator forgets to conduct ironing, and the remaining water in the fibers could be a cause of new wrinkles.